Congresswoman Maxine Waters raised the alarm about the allegations in Gary Webb‘s Dark Alliance. The allegations were that the CIA was involved in cocaine trafficking in South Los Angeles with the profits going to Central American rebels.

Waters has represented California’s 35th congressional district since 1991. The 35th District is comprised of a large area of South Central Los Angeles, the communities of Westchester and Playa del Rey as well as the cities of Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale.

As stated in the 1997 report, the Department of Justice’s investigation was triggered by a letter dated August 30, 1996, Representative Waters requested that the Department of Justice and the House Judiciary Committee conduct investigations of the allegations arising from Dark Alliance. Chapter One of the report can be found at this link.